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Re: What HeiCha are you drinking

Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2020 1:51 am
by Balthazar
thommes wrote:
Fri Sep 18, 2020 7:08 pm
I bought a kilo brick of fuzhuan today. I need a pot for it. Anyone have a suggestion?
Fuzhuan taste profiles can vary quite a lot beyond the (usually very mild) "菌香" provided by the jinhua. So anything from dates/raisins to more malty flavors, to minerality, to the "damp forest earth and berries" yesheng taste, to many other variations. Then there's the pine smoke wildcard, the smokiness may be non-existent or may dominate (or only linger in the background of) the first 4-5 steeps. You'll find that the "house flavor" of the producers will be very different, a dramatic comparison would be GM2X vs Gaojiashan. I'm not sure what factory the bitterleaf tea is from, though.

But given that it's from 2004, I'd assume the pine smoke flavor is faint, so I think either a gaiwan or any type of not-too-muting clay will serve you well. Among my yixing pots I tend to prefer either hongni or zini. But have never found a tea that preforms bad in either. Actually, if you check out a few popular fuzhuan products on Taobao and look at the customer reviews with images, you'll find that a lot of people use glass vessels to brew these teas :) (but the again, glass brewing seems to be extremely widespread in Mainland China).

Oh, and don't get mad at me for suggesting this, but you can also brew them in a regular drip coffee maker. There's actually a pretty well-known heicha producer in Anhua that makes dedicated drip-brewing vessels for their teas. That's the kind of "branching out" that has me reconsider trying their tea (I ended up not buying) :mrgreen:

Re: What HeiCha are you drinking

Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2020 8:01 am
by thommes
Balthazar wrote:
Sat Sep 19, 2020 1:51 am
thommes wrote:
Fri Sep 18, 2020 7:08 pm
I bought a kilo brick of fuzhuan today. I need a pot for it. Anyone have a suggestion?
Fuzhuan taste profiles can vary quite a lot beyond the (usually very mild) "菌香" provided by the jinhua. So anything from dates/raisins to more malty flavors, to minerality, to the "damp forest earth and berries" yesheng taste, to many other variations. Then there's the pine smoke wildcard, the smokiness may be non-existent or may dominate (or only linger in the background of) the first 4-5 steeps. You'll find that the "house flavor" of the producers will be very different, a dramatic comparison would be GM2X vs Gaojiashan. I'm not sure what factory the bitterleaf tea is from, though.

But given that it's from 2004, I'd assume the pine smoke flavor is faint, so I think either a gaiwan or any type of not-too-muting clay will serve you well. Among my yixing pots I tend to prefer either hongni or zini. But have never found a tea that preforms bad in either. Actually, if you check out a few popular fuzhuan products on Taobao and look at the customer reviews with images, you'll find that a lot of people use glass vessels to brew these teas :) (but the again, glass brewing seems to be extremely widespread in Mainland China).

Oh, and don't get mad at me for suggesting this, but you can also brew them in a regular drip coffee maker. There's actually a pretty well-known heicha producer in Anhua that makes dedicated drip-brewing vessels for their teas. That's the kind of "branching out" that has me reconsider trying their tea (I ended up not buying) :mrgreen:
COFFEE MAKER!!!!!!!!!! :cry: :evil: :cry: :evil: :roll: :( :( :( :shock: :? :lol: WHO let you in here? :) :D

I'm still working on getting my first clay pot so I'm pretty far from experimenting with a dripomatic TEA maker. I just thought since I have a KILO of the stuff, it might be worth it to get a dedicated pot.

Re: What HeiCha are you drinking

Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2020 9:50 am
by Balthazar
Gotcha, if it's your first pot I think anything not-too-muting should be a safe choice. Others may have more useful/specific suggestions, though.

Bold move to start your fuzhuan journey with a 1 kilo brick ;)

Re: What HeiCha are you drinking

Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2020 6:30 am
by StoneLadle
StoneLadle wrote:
Mon Sep 14, 2020 3:31 am
Balthazar



But I did grab a bag of this, ordered from Wuzhou and kept in baskets in KL and packaged by the same merchant...

Image
Yo @Balthazar I finally had a go with this today.

1/3rd full 120ml DCQ , 10 second steeps increasing as we go along, drunk out of a bowl...

This is a total keeper at this price and quality. Found out a bit more about the tea and yea the packaging is recycled from other stuff as the merchant gets their own line of LB stamped for them.

Betelness is upfront, with clean aromas yet earthy punch w good base/bass... Clear broth, sparkly on the after taste and a sticky sweet finish on the soft palate that returns well ..

Solid this tea is indeed....

Re: What HeiCha are you drinking

Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2020 7:17 am
by Balthazar
Sounds like a real winner!

Re: What HeiCha are you drinking

Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2020 7:41 am
by StoneLadle
Balthazar wrote:
Tue Sep 22, 2020 7:17 am
Sounds like a real winner!
At Euro40/kg it's a no brained, spectacular even for the price, and I suspect it will do well in a blind taste contest...

Re: What HeiCha are you drinking

Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2020 8:02 am
by wave_code
sounds like something worth stocking up on @StoneLadle.
The day a package was supposed to be shipped to me its a bummer to hear the mail service in Malaysia is overrun, sounds like due to Corona, and is basically stopping all international post at the moment. argh! I guess my tea will have an extra few months of age on it at least once I can finally get it sent.

Had some Malaysian storage 2011 CNNP first grade liu bao this morning. I've got maybe one session left and I wish I had a batch number or something - it was really delicious. Earthy but sweet, had some sort of nice dry citrus like taste, like just barely ripe persimmon or some kind of physalis. I wish I had stocked up on it before, but isn't that always how it goes.

Trying my first fu tea right now - Gold Dust sample I picked up from bitter leaf. it reminds me a lot of kyobancha or sannenbancha with the roasted sweetness actually, just maybe a little more fruity. Not sure I'd want to get more of this though, not quite my thing I think. Seems there is a lot of variation possible with fu teas though, maybe I'd like to try something with a bit more smoke or a more earthy profile.

Re: What HeiCha are you drinking

Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2020 3:18 pm
by polezaivsani
Got this two industrial fellows today and without showing them around much, took them to the test steep. With that over, i'd still give them couple weeks to get used to new climate and make a detailed account on both later, but there was one interesting moment - that Worker's stadium tin ca. 2018(2011), while sipping on it, i couldn't stop thinking that should i've been given it blindly, i'd say 'nice shu you have here'! Leaves are obviously different, but it smelled and tasted exactly like a nice shu i had a while back (admittedly i haven't been drinking shu ever since) :roll:. Liking it a whole lot really, cheers!

Re: What HeiCha are you drinking

Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2020 9:09 am
by wave_code
Nice choices. I really like that worker's stadium tea. I tried the green box edition a little while ago and it was kinda just ok to me- it still tasted funny enough very "green", too young still maybe. This silver box one though I think is really nice, its becoming one of my favorite heavier fermentation liu baos. I still haven't tried the older red box.

Having some of the silver box myself right now. Nice and smooth. From what I can remember though it did benefit quite a bit from having time to settle in, so your patience should pay off.

Re: What HeiCha are you drinking

Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2020 12:51 pm
by thommes
Balthazar wrote:
Sat Sep 19, 2020 9:50 am
Gotcha, if it's your first pot I think anything not-too-muting should be a safe choice. Others may have more useful/specific suggestions, though.

Bold move to start your fuzhuan journey with a 1 kilo brick ;)
Thank you thank you very much. However, if it makes you feel better, I also got 250g of another Fuzhuan in the same order. I just wanted to buy a 1k brick...

But I can honestly say I've never had a fuzhuan that I didn't like, because I've never had a fuzhuan :D

Happiness is everyday seeing your order of tea make progress of getting to you.

Re: What HeiCha are you drinking

Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2020 2:43 am
by StoneLadle
Went out for lunch yesterday with Madame and ate a very hearty earthy noodle with dark soy mince sauce and beef tripe on the side. This was in Chinatown, KL and we wandered over to a favourite tea store for a digestif...

Preferably a taste of a 2002 Duoteli basket that had been opened two weeks previously. The year refers to when it landed in KL, so it's probably a year to three older or so. That basket had multiplied so it was interesting to taste different batches of the same tea. We managed to taste 4 baskets, three brews each, followed by cooking the leaves. Wonderful way to spend the afternoon...

...and then this happened...




..she really needs to be wearing a seat belt...
..she really needs to be wearing a seat belt...
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Re: What HeiCha are you drinking

Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2020 3:49 am
by OCTO
StoneLadle wrote:
Sun Sep 27, 2020 2:43 am

Preferably a taste of a 2002 Duoteli basket that had been opened two weeks previously. The year refers to when it landed in KL, so it's probably a year to three older or so. That basket had multiplied so it was interesting to taste different batches of the same tea. We managed to taste 4 baskets, three brews each, followed by cooking the leaves. Wonderful way to spend the afternoon...

...and then this happened...

Image
Hahahaha.... the force is strong!! Bring some up for our next session!! 😁😁😁

Cheers!

Re: What HeiCha are you drinking

Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2020 4:32 am
by Balthazar
@thommes: I won't judge, I have a unsampled kilo brick of fuzhuan on the way in the mail myself. :)
StoneLadle wrote:
Sun Sep 27, 2020 2:43 am

...and then this happened...


Image
I'm assuming this is a picture of the "Madame" of yours, yes? :mrgreen:

I actually haven't tried cooking liubao. I usually end up boiling/simmering Anhua heichas if the base material is good (so usually heizhuan, rarely fuzhuan), after 10+ brews. No idea why I haven't tried so with LB. How long did the store cook them for? After only three steeps I imagine the brew could easily turn bitter, even for a well-aged LB, no?

Re: What HeiCha are you drinking

Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2020 4:42 am
by StoneLadle
@Balthazar

StoneLadle wrote:
Sun Sep 27, 2020 2:43 am

...and then this happened...


Image



Oh no , Madame was driving while I snapped this picture...

And when we got home we got this shot of our Tea Boy bringing the basket up in the traditional manner using head, hands and feet...

IMG-20200926-WA0010.jpg
IMG-20200926-WA0010.jpg (243.66 KiB) Viewed 4356 times
Note the special yellow rubber on the sandals, they help keep the storage area clean...

Re: What HeiCha are you drinking

Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2020 4:46 am
by StoneLadle
Balthazar wrote:
Sun Sep 27, 2020 4:32 am


I actually haven't tried cooking liubao. I usually end up boiling/simmering Anhua heichas if the base material is good (so usually heizhuan, rarely fuzhuan), after 10+ brews. No idea why I haven't tried so with LB. How long did the store cook them for? After only three steeps I imagine the brew could easily turn bitter, even for a well-aged LB, no?

Why would the tea turn bitter? By cooking we increase the water ratio and just let the pot sit over a tea-light... Pouring from it from time to time...

The three brews each were strong and punchy, so we can see what these teas can do, hard and fast... Good tea should be drinkable when pushed hard...